Since I have drop springs on my car I find that driving over anything taller than a sheet of paper results in my air dam scraping. I succeeded in ripping it clean off Friday night (our roads suck). I understand that the way the air dam works is by deflecting air upwards which also creates an area of low pressure behind the dam, thereby helping in pulling hot air away from the radiator. My question is, would it be feasible to fab up a "skid plate", like on many newer cars, that would have the same effect? I work in HVAC so I have a pretty good understanding of positive and negative pressures, air distribution, etc. I just don't know how to undertake something like this and am hoping someone has done this before. Thanks for any help!!

 

if you don't mind the high rpm horsepower draw,a flex fan could be used-you won't need the air dam as a good flex fan will pull much more air through the radiator at cruise rpm than ram air with the air dam will provide.Electric fans don't have enough horsepower and clutch fans freewheel at cruise rpm,so neither of those types are capable of providing enough airflow at speed without the airdam.

 

I thought about a flex fan but I don't like the idea of the blades weakening over time and eventually grenading the radiator or something else important.

 

a good flex fan such as flexalite 1300 series won't have crack problems,but the flexalite can be a little loud.Rigid fans of the type used for certain types of circle track racing would do the job too,but will use some HP at upper RPM .

 

I had a Flexalite rigid fan on my Fox body 5.0 and it worked great. I still have the airdamn, but man did my temp gauge down done once I put that thing on.

 

Someone on TGO made an aluminum airdam with hinges so when it hit something it just move back.

 

Stay as far away from the flex fan as you can.
Yes, they can come apart (so can a stock fan).
They take more HP to turn than even a clutch fan.
The flex fan flatens out at mid to higher rpm so it pulls less air, making the airdam 100% needed.

The best setup is the factory airdam and twin electric fans.

Use the factory airdam, fan(s) and becareful driving a lowered car. Thats part of moddn it..

 

Just trim the bottom of a stock air dam. If you are careful and patient the road will slowly trim it for you.

Lon

 

lol what was funny was when i was at the dealer picking up my new air dam and i was amazed at how huge it was. All the one's i had ever seen had been on a camaro for 25+ years and had some "custom" trimming done to them.

 

i opened up the grille on my Camaro, built an airbox out of coroplast to direct all the air that comes thru the grille thru the radiator, and put some aluminum expanded mesh on the grille opening to make it look like a race car. should be able to do something similar to a Bird if you really want to..




but you can get away with a lot less grille opening than that.. this is how i drove it most of the summer as i was seeking gas mileage, and it never got over the 195 thermostat temp:

 

Clear lexan covers over the headlight openings will help the front of those brick shaped cars front end a buttload.

 

Hey TTOP350 - about those lexan covers - i got 'em, but i was concerned about their staying put at speed. And when i mean speed i mean like 130+ I'm afraid they'd flex and pop off, seeing as mine just came with plastic sticky tape. Do you have experience with them? At speed?

 

No problem. Use the 200 mph tape that is commonly used by NASCAR teams.

Lon

 

ok - i found some on ebay. next question, how do i get it BACK OFF when i need to change out a headlight?